FoANo.'l0-306 (Rev. 10-74) UNlTEDSTATtS DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM FOR FEDERAL PROPERTIES SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN HOW TO COMPLETE NATIONAL REGISTER FORMS TYPE ALL ENTRIES -- COMPLETE APPLICABLE SECTIONS NAME HISTORIC Gunnison Tunnel AND/OR COMMON Same LOCATION STREET& NUMBER Page) Approximately 6.5 miles east of Montrose(See attached-Nor FOR PUBLICATION CITY. TOWN CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT _55_ VICINITY OF Montrose Third STATE CODE COUNTY CODE Colorado 08 Montrose 085 CLASSIFICATION CATEGORY OWNERSHIP STATUS PRESENT USE _ DISTRICT .X PUB LIC —OCCUPIED -XAGRICULTURE —MUSEUM —BUILDING(S) _ PRIVATE ^UNOCCUPIED —COMMERCIAL —PARK XSTRUCTURE —BOTH _ WORK IN PROGRESS —EDUCATIONAL —PRIVATE RESIDENCE —SITE PUBLIC ACQUISITION ACCESSIBLE —ENTERTAINMENT —RELIGIOUS —OBJECT —IN PROCESS X_YES: RESTRICTED ^GOVERNMENT —SCIENTIFIC —BEING CONSIDERED — YES: UNRESTRICTED —INDUSTRIAL —TRANSPORTATION _NO —MILITARY —OTHER: AGENCY REGIONAL HEADQUARTERS: (If applicable} Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation STREET & NUMBER 125 South State Street CITY. TOWN STATE Salt Lake Citv VICINITY OF Utah LOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION COURTHOUSE. Site is under Reclamation withdrawal from Public Domain (contact REGISTRY OF DEEDS, ETC Bureau of Land Management or Montrose County Assessors Office) STREET & NUMBER BLM, 1600 Broadway, Denver, Colorado 81401_____________________________ CITY. TOWN STATE Montrose n f f \ PP . Montrose Colorado [REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS TITLEI I I UL. National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark / and / Colorado Inventory of Historic DATE Site 1972 / and / ongoing X.FEDERAL J5STATE —COUNTY —LOCAL DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS Colorado Historic Society, 1300 Broadway CITY. TOWN STATE Denver. Colorado 80203 DESCRIPTION CONDITION CHECK ONE CHECK ONE * _EXCELLENTC • _DETERIORATED _UNALTERED _ORIGINAL SITE .XGOOD * _RUINS FALTERED _MOVED DATE______ _FAIR _UNEXPOSED DESCRIBETHE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (IF KNOWN) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE The tunnel is 5.8 miles in length and has a capacity of 1,000 cfs. The upstream portion of the bore is constructed in crystalline rock and is unlined. This section is rectangular in shape with an arched roof and has cross section dimensions of 11 ft. (width) by 12 ft. (length). The down­ stream portion of the bore is constructed in Mancos Shale and is concrete lined for stability. Some short sections of this portion have been renovated and now form a modified horseshoe with a diameter of 12 ft. The elevation of the tunnel's mouth on the floor of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River is approximately 6,520 ft. asl. When the tunnel emerges at the South Canal in the Uncompahgre Valley, it has dropped approximately 40 ft. in elevation to 6480 ft. asl. At its deepest point, the tunnel channel is approximately 2,200 ft. beneath the dome of Vernal Mesa. (Hev. 10-74) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES JUL 2 2 I979 INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM DATE ENTERED COIMTI NUATION SHEET LOCATION ITEM NUMBER 2 PAGE 2 The Gunnison Tunnel is reached "by traveling approximately 65 miles east of Montrose, Colorado, on U.S. Highway 50. From just below its intersection with this highway, the tunnel extends in a northeasterly direction for 5.8 miles to the diversion dam on the Gunnison River. While there is access to the east portal and while the Bureau has withdrawn approx­ imately 1,000 contiguous acres surrounding it for the Uncompahgre and Curecanti Projects, the area immediately surrounding the tunnel mouth is, because of its con­ figuration, wholly unsuited for visitor facilities. Correspondingly, it is felt simply placing a plaque at the mouth of the tunnel is the only reasonable form of commenoration at this portal. At the west portal, the Bureau has withdrawn approximately 4-0 acres which are herein described: Section 26: SEiNWi; T49N, R8W, MNPM. But any visitor development at this portal is, in the opinion of this office, ill advised, for the canal banks immediately below the tunnel are quite steep and the water as it leaves the tunnel is traveling at a fairly high velocity. These two conditions would pose a definite safety hazard to visitors. SIGNIFICANCE PERIOD AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE » CHECK AND JUSTIFYDO BELOW' —PREHISTORIC —ARCHEOLOGY-PREHISTORIC _COMMUNITY PLANNING —LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE —RELIGION _1400-1499 _ ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC —CONSERVATION _.LAW —SCIENCE _ 1500-1599 —XAGRICULTURE —ECONOMICS —LITERATURE —SCULPTURE — 1600-1699 —ARCHITECTURE —EDUCATION —MILITARY —SOCIAL/HUMANITARIAN _1700-1799 ^ENGINEERING _MUSIC _THEATER _1 800 1899 —COMMERCE JCEXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT _PHILOSOPHY _TRANSPORTATION J£l 900- —COMMUNICATIONS _INDUSTRY —POLITICS/GOVERNMENT _OTHER (SPECicv\ —INVENTION SPECIFIC DATES BUILDER/ARCHITECT STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE In 1882 the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad completed a railhead through the Uncompahgre Valley in western Colorado. With improved access and the desire for peace and prosperity, homesteaders began to settle the valley in ever-increasing numbers. They soon discovered, however, that the annual rainfall and the irrigation supply from their one river, the Uncompahgre, were inadequate for continuously successful farming and ranching operations. To the north in the awesomely deep gorge of the Black Canyon, the Gunnison River held the potential to satisfy their water needs—if only a way could be found to tap it. Beginning in 1890 F. C. Lauzon, Montrose farmer, one-time miner, and full-time visionary, fired the imaginations of local residents with his dream of an irrigation tunnel through the Vernal Mesa, which separated the Gunnison River from the Uncompahgre Valley. By 1894 he had sparked enough interest so that funds could be secured and a survey taken. The first survey demonstrated that Lauzon's dream was something more than merely a dream. However, further surveys needed to be taken from the canyon floor before a tunnel site could be selected. In 1901 E. B. Anderson, a Delta, Colorado, farmer, led four men in an ill-fated attempt to survey the canyon by floating the river in wood and canvas boats. After four weeks on what was expected to be a five-day journey and after traversing less than half of the 4-0-mile canyon, the party abandoned the project in understandable despair. Finally in 1901 an engineer from the U.S. Geological Survey, A. Lincoln Fellows, and William W. Torrence of the Montrose Electric Light and Power Company, a member of the aborted expedition of 1901, made a survey using rubber air mattresses and waterproof bags to carry their equipment. In nine days they examined, photographed, and surveyed the best sites for a diversion dam and tunnel, and Fellows' account of this perilous exploration furnishes, according to one historian, "one of the most thrilling chapters in the engineering annals of America." In 1901, 850 feet of tunnel was actually drilled, but work soon stopped when the $25,000 in funds allocated by the State of Colorado were exhausted. Funding for the project became a realizable possibility with the passage of the Reclamation Act in 1902, and on June 7, 1903, the Secretary of the Interior approved, as one of the five first projects to be built by the newly-created Reclamation Service, the allo­ cation of funds for the Uncompahgre Project. QMAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES Beidleman, Richard G. "The Gunnison River Diversion Project." reprinted from The Colorado Magazine, XXXVI, (1959). " ——" Brownell, Fran. "Gunnison Tunnel Opening." The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, •' August 6, 1972, Colorado West Section, 4-9. "The Gunnison Tunnel and the Uncompahgre Project." Bureau of Reclamation pamphlet. Washington, D.C.-: GPO .843-656, ND. I0GEOGRAPHICAL DATA ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY 373.33______ UTM REFERENCES A|l.3l 121 6. 91 Q 90 I U.216,71 2. q Ql Bll.3l 1216. " 60 ZONE EASTING NORTHING ZONE EASTING NORTHING c|!i3] |2|6.0|7, 6>0| |4.2|6.2j 8. Q0| The structure is a tunnel with its eastern portal on the Gunnison River "between UTM references1 'A- and B ; described.above and' its-western portal between UTM reference D and C described above. • . LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES :" .: : , " "•'•;'< :.• ;,: ' ';• "••••' P STATE CODE COUNTY - CODE STATE COUNTY CODE FORM PREPARED BY NAME/TITLE Steve MeCall ORGANIZATION DATE Bureau of Reclamation. Upper Colorado Region December Q. 1Q77 STREETS NUMBER TELEPHONE 764 Horizon Drive CITY OR TOWN STATE Grand Junction,.Colorado 81501 CERTIFICATION OF NOMINATION STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER RECO YES_k_ NO___ In compliance with Executive Order 11 593,1 hereby nominate this property to the National Register, certifying that the State Historic Preservation Officer has been allowed 90 days in which to present the nomination to the State Review Board and to evaluate its significance. The evaluated level of significance is __Naiiorja^A^Statf __Local. FEDERAL REPRESENTATIVE SIGNATURE ^^J^f^^ I** //\\€\\\1&Y-~___________________ TITLE Acting Assistant Commissioner - Planning & Operation£>ATE Form No 1{)-300a (Hev 10-74) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR FOR NFS USE ONLY NATIONAL PARK SERVICE ( RECEIVED OCT fca NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES JUL 2 2 1979 INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM DATE ENTERED CONTINUATION SHEET Significance ITEM NUMBER 8 PAGE 2____________________ Late in 1904, a private contractor began construction of the tunnel, but because of financial difficulties soon withdrew, and the Reclamation Service assumed the re­ sponsibility of completing the project. The difficulties encountered were in some cases gargantuan. A wagon road had to be built across Vernal Mesa and onto the floor of the canyon. In some places the grade was nearly 30 percent, and much of the massive drilling equipment had to be eased down on skids and held with block and tackle. Four separate drill headings were be­ gun—one in from each portal and east and west from a shaft sunk in at the mesa. Tunnel drillers prefer hard, solid rock; but in this tunnel they also ran into clay, sand, shale, and a badly fractured fault zone. In December of 1906 a seam was tapped carrying warm water surcharged with carbonic acid.